


just a little bit of your heart

by godgaypeen



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - What Can I Do MV Trilogy, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Based on a Ariana Grande song, F/M, M/M, Multi, One-Sided Attraction, Pining, Teen Angst, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love, based on a harry styles song cover, sungjin kind of sucks here but i love him, unrequited sungpil, wonpil is unendingly sad, wonpil-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:01:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27178937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/godgaypeen/pseuds/godgaypeen
Summary: Wonpil hated her.He hated everything about her.There’s a lot of things he hated about her, but he promised he would only mention the things he really, really hated when it comes to her, so here it is.
Relationships: Kim Wonpil & Park Sungjin, Park Sungjin/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	just a little bit of your heart

**Author's Note:**

> There's like two songs that heavily inspired this fic, which is [Girl Crush (Harry Styles cover)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rroc2y9if_Q) and [Just A Little Bit Of Your Heart (Ariana Grande song)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVOhs_TSwsQ), so it's highly recommended for you to listen to those songs while reading this fic!
> 
> As suggested in the tag, Sungjin is kind of a dick in this fic, but that's mainly because it's from Wonpil's perspective, so he's kind of a not-so-reliable narrator, as his anger from unrequited love creates some sort of bias for his perception of Sungjin.

1\. **The Way He Looks At Her**

Sungjin and Wonpil were sitting together in Maths class; they always sat together, ever since they became friends, so it made complete sense. What did not make sense, however, was the fact that Sungjin did not seem to pay attention to him. Like, at all. 

Okay, so maybe he was not quite interested in listening to Wonpil talk about a song he had just learned how to play on the piano, but as his seatmate-slash-best friend in an unbearably boring class, he could have at least attempted to pretend to be interested, you know, instead of letting him talk out loud to himself? He had worked incredibly hard on learning how to play that particularly challenging song, and he felt awfully proud of it too! It was another song added to the list of songs he could fully play without mistakes, and yet-

 _Alright, what the hell is he looking at to the point where he’s not even listening to me?_ , Wonpil thought bitterly, turning his head to follow Sungjin’s line of sight until- Ah. It’s her, their classmate with the long, straight hair and annoyingly pretty smile, who also happens to be Not a Boy, meaning she falls under Sungjin’s actual gender preference category, an advantage she already had over Wonpil. Sungjin had been doing that a lot lately, deep longing glances in her general direction, and it was starting to annoy the dark-haired boy immensely.

Wonpil, despite absolutely hating the fact that Sungjin’s attention was fixated on her instead of him, understood completely. He looked at Sungjin the same way he was looking at that girl now; softly, adoringly, with painfully-obvious heart eyes and a gentle smile to match. Wonpil often caught himself staring at him while he was reading study notes in the library or the way he politely ate his food during their lunchbreak… He even found himself watching Sungjin sleep that one time when they were pulling an all-nighter for exams, and his best friend had rested his head upon the cool surface of the table for a short nap. He was unendingly beautiful in all of these scenarios, and Wonpil enjoyed these little moments immensely, feeling as if he could watch him like that forever. Well, he used to, anyway.

Now, these moments were ruined by her. Sungjin watches her whenever they were coincidentally in the library at the same time. Sungjin looks at her from across the lunch hall whenever he knew she wasn’t aware of his glances full of yearning. He rarely asks Wonpil to come over to his house anymore, so he knew watching him sleep was out of the question anyway. Wonpil’s stolen glances towards his best friend were all ruined by that girl, and yet he knew he should not harbour negative feelings over such a harmless little crush. Still, it was majorly frustrating how Sungjin looked at her as if she was the only one in the room because that was how he usually looked at Sungjin.

 _Why couldn’t he look at me like that_ , Wonpil wondered.

2\. **The Way He Talks About Her**

It does not take long for Sungjin to tell him about his feelings for that girl. Not that Wonpil had not figured it out first, anyway.

He had sat down next to Wonpil during lunch one day, smiling widely as he placed his lunch tray on the table. This was already out-of-place and alarm bells were ringing in his mind as Sungjin had never been this giddy around him before, not even when he once gave the brown-haired man a boxset of Marvel movies for his birthday, considering how much Sungjin liked those kinds of action films. No, this kind of emotion was a rarity for his best friend, and he should have known that girl had something to do with it. He made the fatal mistake of asking him about it.

“Why are you so happy today? Did you see Brian Kang trip down the stairs or something?” Wonpil asked casually, biting into a particularly crunchy celery stick. His mother had packed him this all-too-healthy lunch consisting of celery sticks and carrots as well as what looked like an egg sandwich, but he did not mind; he liked this a lot better than the questionable and extremely oily things in the menu served at the lunch hall by the lunch lady who seemed to despise Wonpil – but that was a story for another day.

“No, something even better!” Sungjin had replied. “Although, I think I would’ve enjoyed that as well.” He added as an afterthought.

Wonpil never really understood why he despised their classmate so much; sure, he was the moody-broody intimidating type of guy, but he had never been unkind to Wonpil, or Sungjin, for that matter. One time, Brian Kang had let him borrow his phone to call his mother (begrudgingly, but that’s understandable – phones were not allowed in school, so he probably did not want his phone confiscated if the teachers caught Wonpil using it, emergency or no emergency), and Wonpil, the lovely boy he is, could not bear to peg him as the wretched bad boy that everyone else including Sungjin seemed to label him as.

“So, what is it, then?” Wonpil asked with his mouth full, his words a little muffled with the obstructive food he was chewing.

“Yah, must you talk with food in your mouth?” Sungjin frowned at him disapprovingly, but it was only for a moment before that giddy smile appeared on his face again. “I talked to her today. Right before I came here.”

Wonpil had no idea who he was talking about. “There are so many girls in school, hyung, please be specific.” He said, before swallowing his food.

“You know who. Ji Eun-ssi. The one I like.” Sungjin frowned again, as if he had expected Wonpil to know everything about him. Well, he _did_ know almost everything he needed to know about Sungjin, but that was not the point. He just did not expect Sungjin to use the L-word in relation to her (he had not known of her name until now) in the first place, as he had hoped and prayed this was just a fleeting crush for Sungjin. Evidently, he was wrong. “Actually, I think I’m in love with her.”

Wonpil began to choke on his celery stick, the poor guy coughing violently a couple of times as his throat seemed to constrict, unable to breathe for what seemed like forever. Sungjin, ever the nice guy, pat his back in concern in an effort for his violent choking to stop, but the presence of his best friend’s gentle touch on his back did nothing to ease him from this searing pain that took over his body, both his throat and his heart being in immense pain. It took him a while before he could go back to normal again, his face reddened with embarrassment as students from nearby tables had turned to look at him with worry, but he was alright, he thought.

“This is why you shouldn’t talk with your mouth full.” Sungjin scolded him with a shake of his head, sliding his bottle of water to Wonpil, which he accepted less-than-gracefully, grateful for the way it would soothe his throat. As he drank, he wondered what would hurt more; losing the ability to breathe, or finding out the boy you were in love with for years was in love with someone else. Logically, it would be the former, but he figured both hurts just as bad as the other, considering the fact that both events occurred for him simultaneously. 

Once Wonpil regained composure, he set the bottle down and looked at Sungjin, wanting to read his expression before he asked. “Do… Do you really like her?”

 _Please say no, please say no, please say no-_ “No, I told you. I think I love her.” He clarified, and Wonpil felt as if he had been kicked in the gut. Repeatedly. With stiletto high heels. 

This was worse, so much worse than he could possibly imagine. That girl had managed to capture his best friend’s heart, wrapping him around her finger without even knowing it, and it infuriated him – what was so special about her that made Sungjin so interested in her?

“That’s nice, I’m happy for you, hyung,” Wonpil spoke flatly, but the brown-haired boy paid no mind to it. In fact, he seemed to have taken it as an invitation to talk about Ji Eun more.

After that day in the lunch hall, Sungjin managed to weave her into their conversations more often, especially on days where they had a brief interaction in the hallways, or even when she mouthed a shy ‘hi’ at him when their eyes met in classes. Within a month, Wonpil knew what her favourite colour was (“she likes purple, isn’t that wonderful?”), the name of her pet dog (“she has a golden retriever named Fluffy, she said I could walk her dog one day if I’d like”), how her handwriting looks like (“it’s kind of tiny, but she writes her notes so neatly, even our teachers praise her for it!”), and even her class schedule, which was definitely something he did not want to know about, ever.

Then there was that one day where Sungjin got incredibly frustrated about Brian Kang, who was apparently the object of Ji Eun’s affections. She had mentioned in passing that Brian pushed past her in the hallway and did not apologise, and suddenly the brown-haired boy was ready to ‘throw hands’ with the other boy. Wonpil had pointed out that it could have just been an honest mistake, but Sungjin was so adamant in his hatred for Brian Kang that Wonpil felt silly for even speaking up about it. Now knowing that his best friend’s unnecessarily hostile behaviour towards their classmate was (mostly) rooted in jealousy, he felt oddly sorry for Brian, considering how he was not even aware of the girl’s feelings for him. Even though this situation was a direct parallel to his own unrequited love, Wonpil was very content with hating that girl with every fabric of his being, thank you very much!

He knew he should not judge his best friend for acting that way; Wonpil had his own fair share of moments where he would catch himself mentioning Sungjin in conversations with his long-time friend, Jinyoung. It was normal for people to talk about their crushes to their friends, but for the same reason Sungjin hated Brian Kang, he hated every single time his friend would mention her. The way his eyes sparkled as he said her name, the way he could never stop smiling as he told Wonpil of yet another hallway interaction between the two… He talked about her as if she was the most interesting person in the world, and he hated it.

 _Does he know that’s how I talk about him_ , Wonpil wondered, then shaking his head in dismay. _I doubt he even cares._

3\. **The (Many) Times He Prioritised Her**

It got worse after Sungjin’s confession.

Wonpil was absolutely sure Ji Eun would reject him, considering how she had feelings for Brian Kang instead of Sungjin, and he was prepared to welcome his best friend back with open arms as he would crawl back to him nursing a broken heart. Such an event never came as the two began to hang out together after the confession that night, and suddenly he was not quite sure about how that girl felt for his best friend anymore.

He did not mind at first; it was nice to see Sungjin so smiley and cheery whenever he was going to study with her in the library that day. Then, it became a regular thing in his daily schedule, and they would spend so much time with each other that the two best friends no longer walked home after school together anymore. Sungjin knew Wonpil did not like to go home alone, but it seemed that Wonpil was now a secondary character in his life, and he obviously did not appreciate being pushed aside like a forgotten toy, tossed to the back of the closet once Sungjin had outgrown him.

Like a fool, Wonpil had asked him a few times to hang out after school, but the answer was always the same; “sorry, I’m busy today” or “you know I’m hanging out with Ji Eun today, Wonpil-ah”. It was her, always her. He was starting to get sick of hearing her name on his lips, he despised the way her name falls off his tongue in a way that Wonpil knew could never apply to him. Even the way Sungjin said her name was drenched in pure adoration.

Sungjin had asked him to join them a couple of times in an effort for his ‘two favourite people’ to get to know each other, but Wonpil would rather eat dirt than to spend hours at the library with the boy he loved and the girl he constantly abandoned him for. It was a lie, he knew. Wonpil was not one of Sungjin’s favourite people, not anymore. That title belonged to her, and her only, it’s just that he did not realize it yet. If Wonpil was one of Sungjin’s favourite people, he would have at least attempted to pretend to care about him the way he used to. Now, Wonpil sits alone at lunch, mostly due to the fact that his one friend had abandoned him for another.

At least he was not quite alone in that situation, though.

-

A tall boy with pink hair and round glasses was hovering by Wonpil and Sungjin’s usual table, and he was making Wonpil feel nervous.

“What do you want?” Wonpil asked in a sour tone, having seen Sungjin and the girl walking towards the library together after their shared class earlier. He knew he should not behave so harshly to this vaguely-familiar boy, but he was in such a foul mood that it seemed nothing could distract him from the way Sungjin laughed at something she said or the way she placed her hand on his arm when she wanted his attention. _As if she ever needed to beg for it_ , Wonpil thought bitterly.

“Can I sit here with you?” The pink-haired boy said with a bright smile, and Wonpil wondered what possessed him to ever want to sit next to him, of all people. He did not have many friends or spoke in class often, so this sudden bout of friendliness was practically foreign to him. “I figured you could use some company.” He added.

Wonpil blinked uncertainly, not really liking the idea of having to make small-talk when he was stewing with rage and jealousy, but his mouth never really communicated with his brain before talking, so he accepted his offer before he even realized what he was doing.

“Great!” The other boy exclaimed, a mass of long limbs descending into the seat next to Wonpil, still having that bright smile on his face. “I’m Jae, we have Maths class together.” He introduced himself, which led Wonpil to nod in understanding. He was not the friendliest person in school, often keeping to himself whenever he was not around Sungjin like a wallflower, so it made sense why they have never spoken to each other before.

“I’m Wonpil.” He spoke quietly, chewing at his sandwich absently. He never really had an appetite these days, and he was absolutely certain Sungjin and Ji Eun were the sole reason for his altered eating habits nowadays.

Jae nodded as he opened a bottle of mineral water with one hand. It was kind of cool, to be honest. “You’re Sungjin’s best friend, and I’m Ji Eun’s, so I guess that makes us best friends-in-law.”

Wonpil’s nose scrunched up at the thought of associating himself with one of Ji Eun’s friends, let alone her best friend, but he figured he should let him stay for today. He was starting to feel lonely without Sungjin at lunch, anyway. “I don’t know if you can say Sungjin hyung and I are best friends anymore. We haven’t really hung out in a while.”

“Because of Ji Eun, right?” Jae asked after taking a sip from his bottle. Hesitantly, Wonpil nodded, not quite liking the way this conversation was going. “Yeah, she’s been blowing me off a lot lately for your friend too. It’s starting to get annoying.”

“Right?” Wonpil turned to look at Jae a little too eagerly, largely relieved to find someone in the same situation as him. Well, he doubted that Jae was in love with his best friend too, but it was nice to know that someone else was hurt by those two and their blatant disregard for previous friendships prior to knowing each other. He despised couples like that, and he especially despised Sungjin for behaving that way. “I hate how much they hang out with each other.” He confessed, picking at the corner of his half-eaten sandwich.

“Does Sungjin-ssi talk about her a lot?”

“Yeah, he does,” Wonpil answered miserably, recalling the countless times Sungjin mentioned her in their conversations. Unwanted thoughts of jealousy began to bubble to the surface again, but Wonpil managed to control it. Still, he wondered what kind of heterosexual couple things they were doing together today.

“Ji Eun too,” Jae said. “It’s always ‘Sungjin this’ or ‘Sungjin that’! I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but I don’t really wanna know everything about it, you know what I’m saying?”

Wonpil found it a little hard to keep up with Jae as he seemed to talk pretty fast, but he nodded along, anyway. “Sungjin hyung can’t stop talking about her, and honestly? I just want him to shut up sometimes! I don’t know… I want to press duct tape on his mouth so he’d stop going on and on about her, even just for one day.”

“That sounds nice. I could get some duct tape for us, maybe then we’ll be at peace for once.” Jae grinned, and strangely, Wonpil found himself with a matching grin as well. Perhaps talking to Jae was not such a bad idea after all, and he was grateful that he might not have to spend all his time apart from Sungjin alone in school.

“Hey, can I ask… are you even allowed to have pink hair in school?”

4\. **The Way He Kisses Her**

Wonpil did not mean to walk in on them. No, really, this was purely accidental!

He was supposed to meet up with Jae, who had asked Wonpil to meet him at the library for a tutoring-slash-hangout session after school. He knew it could potentially be a bad idea, considering the fact that Sungjin and Ji Eun haunted the place frequently, but he was not eager to let his new non-Sungjin friend down, so he figured he could at least try to be less frosty as other students claimed him to be. Oh, how wrong he was to do so.

The dark-haired boy arrived at the library pretty early after school, and Jae had mentioned that he would be a little late as he had to meet up with one of his teachers beforehand. Wonpil did not mind it at all, he liked having some alone time as it gave him the energy to keep up with other people like the extreme introvert he was.

Wonpil browsed the books in the library, aimlessly wandering the aisles as he read the titles at the spines of the books, stopping to pick one up occasionally when one caught his eye. He did this for quite a while but was interrupted at the sound of a girl giggling. He tried to ignore it, but as he continued to walk, he heard it again – much louder this time, meaning the source of the intrusive sound was close.

Figuring he should turn around and walk away, Wonpil was all-too-ready to leave when he recognised the sound of Sungjin’s voice, albeit being in the form of a barely audible whisper. _I'd recognise that voice anywhere_ , he thought, and before he knew it, his feet were guiding him towards the general direction of these pair of voices against his better judgment, and then-

“Oh.” Wonpil halted in his tracks when he caught sight of Sungjin and Ji Eun together, their heads bent together as they spoke quietly, right before Ji Eun captured Sungjin’s lips with her own.

For a long time, Wonpil froze, unable to tear his eyes away from the two, who had not noticed him yet, too engrossed in their little bubble, unaware of their surroundings. He was used to going around the school unnoticed like a lonely ghost, but he was definitely not used to the idea of Sungjin kissing someone like this, especially someone who was not him. _Not that he would ever kiss me anyway_ , Wonpil thought in defeat.

He continued to watch, mesmerised by the way they seemed to move perfectly with each other, the way Sungjin’s big, strong hands touched her in the ways he would never do with Wonpil. They broke apart after a while, Ji Eun catching her breath and Sungjin smiling at her with reddened cheeks and thoroughly-kissed lips, and suddenly, Wonpil felt like he was intruding on something extremely personal as his best friend quietly mouthed the words ‘I love you’.

This was obviously the moment he dreaded the most, the romantic exchange of affection that he could never have with Sungjin, so it was no surprise that Wonpil turned on his heels and quickly left the library, finding it difficult to breathe all of a sudden. He was a hurricane of heartbreak and jealousy, pushing the doors to the library and stumbling out, colliding with someone almost immediately after.

“Whoa, watch where you’re going!” The person cried out, grasping Wonpil’s arms for support as the latter had practically knocked them off-balance with the sheer force of their impact. “Oh, hey, Wonpil!” The voice, one that he recognised belonging to Jae, exclaimed in greeting.

The smaller boy sniffled and mumbled a ‘hi’, and Jae let go of his arms. “Wait, why are you crying?” Jae’s voice softened immediately, his head cocked to one side in concern. Wonpil had not realized he was crying until the pink-haired boy pointed it out, so he immediately wiped carelessly at his tears with the sleeve of his school uniform.

“C-Can we get out of here? I… I don’t really want to be in the library right now.” Wonpil pleaded, doe eyes glassy with unspilled tears. He felt pathetic in that moment, fully expecting Jae to not understand, but to his surprise, the taller boy nodded with a small smile.

“Of course, whatever you need.”

-

“So, you saw them kiss, then you freaked out and hauled ass out of there?” Jae asked, his eyebrows furrowed into a small frown. Wonpil nodded, but he was not entirely sure Jae could comprehend what had caused him to react so negatively to seeing such a sight.

They were sitting on the swings at the playground; Jae looked comically out-of-place due to his lanky limbs, while Wonpil looked somewhat tiny in comparison, possibly because of his hunched shoulders and gloomy aura around him. He had just finished explaining what had happened earlier to Jae, and he had stopped crying halfway through his retelling of the incident, so he figured he was okay. Nope, not at all!

“I don’t understand, why does kissing freak you out?” Jae continued, kicking his feet against the ground to swing at a slow pace.

Wonpil wondered if he should tell him about the real reason Sungjin and Ji Eun kissing hurt him so much. He had never come out to anyone other than his family members before, and he had barely known Jae, but it felt right. He trusted Jae a lot, he knew he did not have a homophobic bone in his freakishly lanky body, and it would be nice to have someone in his corner, to fully understand his inner dilemma. So, he took a deep inhale of breath and told him the truth.

“It’s not kissing that I’m weirded out by… It’s- It’s Sungjin.” Wonpil spoke slowly.

“Huh?”

“I… like Sungjin. No, I- I love him. Have been for years now, never said anything about it to anyone ever, especially not him.” Wonpil clarified, watching Jae carefully as if to gauge his reaction.

Jae had a small frown on his face, his expression unreadable as his swing stopped, but Wonpil could tell that he was trying to process this new information about his new friend. For a split second, the smaller boy wondered in a whirlwind of panic if he made the right decision in telling him, despite not knowing him for as long as he knew Sungjin. “That makes sense.” He finally said.

“Huh?” It was Wonpil’s turn to be confused, unsure if that was a good reaction or not.

“It makes sense why you’re so torn up about Sungjin and Ji Eun. At first, I thought you were just pissed about being left out, but now I get it.” Jae explained. “It must’ve been terrible, keeping this to yourself for so long, then he goes and gets himself a girlfriend like some oblivious idiot. I can’t imagine how hard it was for you, and it makes me mad to think that you’ve been having these feelings for him and he’d never find out. You deserve better, Wonpil-ah.”

Wonpil was crying again; tears kept spilling down his cheeks and he could not seem to stop them from coming. It felt so cathartic to confess his many years’ worth of pent-up feelings for Sungjin, to relieve himself of the pain he kept inside of him, even if it was to Jae, his new friend. 

“Yah, Park Jaehyung!” A voice cried out, and both boys looked up to find the source of the sudden intrusion. Brian Kang stood about 15 meters away from them with a boy Wonpil recognised as their eternally-sleepy classmate, Yoon Dowoon. He had a reputation for sleeping in classes all day, being the object of many girls’ affections, as well as being a stoic loner who kept to himself even more than Wonpil did without Sungjin. _They were an odd pair of friends_ , he noted.

“Did you make Kim Wonpil cry?” Brian questioned, crossing his arms. Wonpil had no idea he even knew his full name, much less that he existed other than the time he borrowed his phone.

“What? Of course not.” Jae frowned, looking back at Wonpil, who merely wiped at his eyes in response. He definitely did not expect to have witnesses to his little emotional breakdown, so he was understandably self-conscious. It did not help that both Brian and Dowoon started to walk towards them, and Wonpil tried to dry his tears as quickly as he could, but to no avail.

“Then why is he crying?” Brian asked, furrowing his eyebrows at the sight of teary-eyed Wonpil.

Dowoon, for the first time ever it seemed, looked directly at him and asked, “Are you okay?”. His voice was a lot deeper than he expected for such a baby-faced guy, but it kind of suited his quiet demeanor.

Wonpil nodded at Dowoon, then turned his attention to Brian, who was standing near them now. “I’m okay, I just… I saw something I didn’t like, and it upset me way more than I thought it would.” He answered lamely, not quite keen on coming out to three different people on the same day, two of whom he barely spoke to beforehand. This was considered a lie of omission, right?

Brian nodded at his response, deeming it informative enough. “Well, you look very depressing when you cry, especially at a freakin’ playground, so I don’t want you to cry ever again. If anyone ever makes you sad like this, I will beat them up.” He spoke, sounding quite serious that Wonpil was inclined to believe him.

“T- Thanks, I guess, Brian,” Wonpil said, glancing at Jae, who shrugged. It seems that neither of them knew why _the_ Brian Kang was so protective of him suddenly.

“Please, call me Younghyun, only strangers call me Brian.”

5\. **The Hoodie He Gave Her**

Wonpil was not so lonely during lunch anymore.

Along with Jae, Younghyun and Dowoon have also taken to sitting with him at the table previously known as the Sungjin-and-Wonpil table. The two newcomers had been caught hanging out at the rooftop, which was restricted to students, so they were forced to have their break at the lunch hall like the other less-rebellious students. Wonpil liked the fact that they ate with him, though; it gave him more time to slowly get over the fact that Sungjin was dating Ji Eun, and also the fact that the two supposedly best friends had not really hung out together in over a month.

Sure, it still hurt to think about it, but with his new friends, he felt comfortable as there was no need to walk over eggshells, and there was absolutely no longing glances between him and any of the others. It was nice to have friends that he was not in love with, even if he did miss Sungjin sometimes. Younghyun thinks Wonpil is a massive coward for not confessing his feelings, though.

Ah, Younghyun; the school’s resident bad boy. Wonpil had asked him why he was so nice to him one day, and he had the audacity to laugh to his face as if he had said something so astoundingly hilarious. According to him, Younghyun had once seen Wonpil jump into a drain without hesitation to rescue a little kitten while he was walking home after school, and he knew that he should look out for this ‘precious fluffball of a human being’ (his words, not Wonpil’s), even if it was only from afar. The smaller boy found it incredibly strange, but he knew better than to attempt to figure Younghyun out; that boy was odd as hell.

Dowoon was also a tough nut to crack, but once they became closer as friends, Wonpil realized that the quiet boy at the back of the class was probably the funniest person he had ever met. He consistently had one-liners that could put seasoned comedians out of commission, and he was effortlessly smart too, which meant weekly study groups with him and Jae – Younghyun opts out of any kind of studying session, as he was quietly a genius, yet he was immensely lazy as well, so it cancels out like PEMDAS. His friends were an odd bunch, but Wonpil loved them a lot; they did not pry into his life, and they supported him wordlessly, even if they were unsure of what was going on behind-the-scenes with him and Sungjin in the first place.

Speaking of Sungjin, he was standing awkwardly by the table with an uneasy smile, and the group’s conversation ceased to a halt as they noticed him there. “Hi.” He greeted them, looking at Wonpil directly as he said it. _Oh, no_ , he thought to himself.

“Hi, hyung.” Wonpil willed himself to speak, his voice barely coming out as a tiny squeak. Maybe he was not as prepared to speak to Sungjin outside of classrooms as he thought he would be.

“Can I… Can I talk to you for a bit?” He asked, and for a moment, Wonpil could swear he detected the slightest hint of nervousness in the usually-laidback guy.

The smaller man could feel his three friends looking at him with varying degrees of concern, but Wonpil managed to nod in agreement. He figured he would have to speak to Sungjin at some point, so it did not seem so terrifying to talk to him now, despite how much he still hated the fact that the guy he loved was in love with someone else.

He felt Jae squeeze his hand under the table in reassurance before he stood up and followed Sungjin out of the lunch hall.

-

“I didn’t know you’re friends with Brian Kang.” was the first thing Sungjin said as he shut the door to the empty classroom behind him. “I thought you didn’t like him.”

“Younghyun’s nice,” Wonpil mumbled, hugging his arms uneasily. “And you’re the one who hates him, not me.”

The brown-haired boy nodded in understanding, then rubbed the back of his neck. He tended to do that when he was nervous, and Wonpil hated that he knew that about him. He had spent hours and hours learning so much about his best friend, but Sungjin in turn knew virtually nothing about him, especially the well-buried side of him who was in love with him. “We haven’t really hung out in a while.” He started to say.

“Was that a question or a statement?” Wonpil asked. He was not sure why he was being so hostile out of a sudden, but he did not miss the way Sungjin seemed to tense up at his words. _Perhaps he’d finally feel guilty for tossing him aside for some girl_ , Wonpil thought wistfully.

“I’m sorry, Wonpil-ah,” Sungjin said, and Wonpil almost believed him. “I know I’ve been spending a lot of time with Ji Eun lately-”

“Will you ever shut up about that girl? It’s so annoying.” Wonpil snapped, immediately clamping his hand over his mouth a second later, once he registered what he had said. Ah, crap, he was definitely not supposed to say that at all!

Sungjin’s jaw clenched for a moment. “'That girl’ is my girlfriend.” He spoke carefully, his eyebrows furrowed into a hard frown. “But I suppose I deserve that.”

“Yeah, you kinda do,” Wonpil responded curtly, folding his arms across his chest. He was not quite sure where all of this courage was coming from, but he liked how Sungjin seemed to squirm with every harsh response he gave. He really deserved it after what he put Wonpil through.

“I miss hanging out with you, y’know?” Sungjin continued, his eyes big and round and pleading. Wonpil knew he used to be unable to resist the tiny galaxies that were in his best friend’s eyes, so it was not much of a surprise that he could not help but melt when Sungjin looked at him like that this time as well.

“We don’t talk much in class, you don’t sit with me during lunch or walk home with me anymore, and you don’t even text me after school like we used to.” Wonpil listed out his wrongdoings, glancing squarely at him with a frown. “If you missed me, you don’t really show it at all.”

Sungjin sighed; it seemed like Wonpil struck a nerve there. “I know, and I feel bad about it. There’s no excuse, really, I think I just got caught up in the fact that the girl I like likes me back, so I dived in way too fast and forgot how much I care about you as my best friend.” He explained.

Wonpil let out a scoff of disbelief. _Best friend, huh?_ “Yeah, whatever. What do you want, then?”

“I…” Sungjin, for once, was at a loss for words. Maybe he was not used to hearing Wonpil this mad, considering the fact that Wonpil was in fact, an angel in human form, according to Younghyun. “I want us to hang out again. You and me, no girl-talk, just two best bros doing best friend things.”

Wonpil hated the sound of that, especially since he used to want so much more than being Sungjin’s best friend. So, when he agreed moments later, he was surprised at how his mouth and his brain were not cooperating with him once again.

-

It went surprisingly well.

Sungjin had suggested they go to their favourite pizza place together, and the pizza was just as delicious as he remembered. They spent hours there, catching up on the past month or so about anything and everything under the sun, but Wonpil noticed that his best friend had carefully avoided any mention of Ji Eun for his sake. He felt a little guilty, considering the fact that she was still his girlfriend, yet Sungjin knew it was a touchy subject and respected it, despite not quite knowing the real reason Wonpil was not too keen on her.

Then, it was time to go home, and since the pizza place was not too far from their neighbourhood, the two decided to walk home together, just like old times. It was pretty cold, and Wonpil had forgotten his jacket at home again, so he attempted to endure the chilly night until he reached his house, but evidently, he was unable to; he never really stood a chance in cold weather, anyway. The poor boy was sniffling and shivering by the time Sungjin noticed, and they were mere minutes away from their respective houses by then.

“You forgot your jacket?” Sungjin asked, his eyes full of concern.

Wonpil nodded wordlessly, afraid to open his mouth in case his teeth might begin to chatter. Sungjin stopped in his tracks, his attention to his Doraemon-like backpack as he searched for something (no, seriously, he had a never-ending bag full of incredibly useful necessities, like Doraemon’s pocket). Curiously, he pulled out a grey zip-up hoodie, one that Wonpil recognised as he was usually the recipient of said hoodie. He was convinced that Sungjin kept that hoodie in his backpack at all times just because he knew Wonpil would forget his own jacket, and this thought comforted him greatly. His hands were balled up into tiny fists and shoved into his jeans pocket, so he did not move as Sungjin gently placed the hoodie over his shoulders, a small smile on his face as he did so.

“There you go.” He spoke softly. Now, if this was at any point of their friendship pre-Ji Eun, Wonpil’s heart would skip multiple beats, the butterflies in his stomach throwing a massive celebratory parade, but of course, this was reality; Sungjin had a girlfriend, and Wonpil was considerably still hung up over his painfully-straight best friend.

“Thanks, hyung,” Wonpil said, smiling bashfully despite everything.

The hoodie was usually incredibly comforting, its material soft and thick which was perfect for cold nights like these, so Wonpil felt wonderfully warm and toasty the longer he wore it. It smelled a little different, though; previously, it would smell kind of like a mix of Sungjin, the cologne he liked to wear, and the specific brand of softener that Sungjin’s mother used. This time, however, the homely scent of the hoodie was replaced by something overpoweringly soft and feminine, something floral and perfume-y.

“Hey, did your mom change softener brands?” Wonpil asked as they began to continue their journey back home. “This smells weird.” He added, taking a deep sniff of the hoodie. It smelled nothing like Sungjin at all, and this did nothing much to comfort him.

“That’s perfume, silly.” Sungjin laughed, grinning at Wonpil’s antics.

The smaller boy frowned at his words. “But you don’t wear perfume.”

“No, I don’t but uh… Ji Eun does.” Sungjin explained, and Wonpil momentarily froze in his tracks as he began to connect the dots.

“Oh?” Wonpil asked, catching up with the brown-haired boy and walking alongside him again. “You let her wear this hoodie?”

Sungjin smiled brightly at his question. “She’s like you, neither of you can stand the cold.”

Wonpil knew he was probably overreacting, but he kind of wanted to burn this hoodie once Sungjin told him that. This was his hoodie, the hoodie that Sungjin kept in his bag for Wonpil for years now… how could he have given this for Ji Eun to wear? He hated this hoodie now, wanting to rip it off of his shoulders and stomp on them repeatedly. He also hated how Sungjin compared her to him as if they could ever be on the same level as each other. Wonpil was the best friend who had been pining after him for years, and she was the girl who managed to steal him away from him in such a short timeframe. They were _not_ the same.

The rest of their walk home passed by in a blur, and Wonpil quickly returned the hoodie, hurrying into his house. The walls felt too constrictive once he had shut the door after waving Sungjin goodbye, and his skin felt like they were on fire. It was a shit ending to an otherwise lovely night, and his breathing grew more shallow as he slid down against the door, his head in his hands, and his eyes easily filled with tears as if it was a normal daily event for Wonpil. 

Somehow, he found himself in the shower, scrubbing furiously at his skin until it was red and shampooing his hair twice just to make sure he got the smell of her perfume out. He wished he could do the same for the hoodie, but he knew it was no longer exclusive to him now; just like Sungjin.

6\. **The Way He Loves Her**

She was waiting for him at the gates.

At first, Wonpil thought he might have been mistaken, but Ji Eun waved brightly at him, so he knew she must have wanted to speak to him. Begrudgingly, he found himself gravitating towards her, mustering up the courage to greet her first with a barely-audible ‘hello’. She did not notice how tightly he gripped the strap of his bag, or perhaps she simply did not point it out.

“Hi, Wonpil-ssi!” She beamed at him, and he resisted the urge to frown. What the hell was there to smile about?

“What’s going on? Don’t you usually hang out with Sungjin hyung after school?” Wonpil asked in what he hoped was a controlled, civilized tone.

Her smile never wavered, so he figured he must have come across as civil as he could. “Oh, he has to meet with one of his teachers, so he asked me to walk with you instead!”

“Suddenly?” Wonpil frowned slightly, unsure of what Sungjin was playing at.

“Yeah, he said you don’t like to walk home alone, so he figured I should try to bond with you.” Ji Eun explained. “Can you imagine, we’ve been classmates for years, and I’m dating your best friend, but this is the first time we ever really spoke?”

She sounded so sincere, Wonpil almost felt bad for resenting her so much. _Almost._ “Yeah, that’s so weird.” He said dryly as if he was not intentionally part of the reason why they had never talked prior to today.

“Anyway, I hope you don’t mind, but I’d like to get to know you.” She said with a smile. “Sungjin-ssi talks about you a lot, and he only ever has nice things to say about you, so I’m curious to know about you first-hand.” 

He knew Ji Eun was the type to pry her way into walking home with him with or without his approval, so Wonpil nodded, opting to entertain her for a bit today, despite having little to no interest in spending time with the girl his best friend was dating. He gestured for them to start walking, and they do.

Five minutes of walking in awkward silence had passed before Ji Eun attempted to break the ice. “So, um… you and Sungjin-ssi have been friends for quite a while, huh?” She asked.

“Yeah,” Wonpil said, staring straight ahead as they walked. His gaze was fixated on a stray dog laying down on the pavement across the street from them; it looked just as miserable as Wonpil felt, walking with Ji Eun at the moment.

“Oh, cool! You know, a lot of us in school think you guys are inseparable friends. You guys are Sungjin-and-Wonpil, you know?” The way she used present tense irked him. Surely she knew that the two _were_ separable, that she was the one who did the ‘separating’? 

“That’s nice.”

“He doesn’t really show it, but he really cares about you a lot.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Do you hate me or something?” Ji Eun questioned in exasperation, both of them stopping in their tracks at her outburst. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that she was frowning deeply at him. Even with her face, all contorted and frustrated, Ji Eun was still kind of cute. “I feel like you don’t like me, and it’s bugging the hell out of me.”

 _Wow, can’t believe she caught that, when even Sungjin still hasn’t figured that out yet_ , Wonpil thought to himself. “If I said yes, will you stop trying to talk to me?” He asked, glancing sideways at her, an eyebrow raised.

Ji Eun bit her lip in dismay. “Can you at least tell me why?”

Involuntarily, Wonpil let out a hollow laugh. “It’s not gonna make me hate you any less, you know.” He said truthfully.

“Well, at least I wouldn’t be wondering what I did to deserve being resented this much by my boyfriend’s best friend.” Ji Eun replied stubbornly, and for a moment, Wonpil was tempted to tell her, if only to make her back off a little.

“Like I’d ever talk about my feelings with you, of all people,” Wonpil said as he began to walk again. Moments later, he heard footsteps from behind him as Ji Eun hastily caught up with him.

“What is it, are you still mad because Sungjin-ssi kept blowing you off for me because he did apologise about that.” She spoke. Wow, Wonpil wanted to tape her mouth with duct tape so, so badly. “Or do you have beef with me over something that happened a while ago? Sungjin did mention that you’re the type to hold life-long grudges. Or maybe you’re misogyni-”

“I hate you because he loves you, okay?!” Wonpil glared at her, wishing he had super powers so he could set her on fire with his mind, or something. “I hate you so, so much because he loves you in a way he never will with me, and it makes me so… it makes me so fucking _angry_!”

Ji Eun did not speak; all she could do was stare at him, trying to process what he was saying. Even Wonpil himself was trying to wrap his own head around his outburst, wondering what had possessed him to say such a thing to his best friend’s girlfriend. “Wonpil, I-” She began to say, but Wonpil was on a roll, so he interrupted her easily.

“It’s not even your fault, you know? It’s not your fault that he’s straight and into girls, and it’s not your fault that he fell in love with you.” Wonpil spoke, his bottom lip quivering as he tried hard not to cry. “I’ve loved him so much for so long that I forgot that he was never really mine in the first place.”

“I’m so sorry…” They were both crying now. Wonpil had no clue why she was in tears too, but he was kind of comforted by the fact that he was not the only one crying in broad daylight where anyone could see.

“Please don’t be sorry.” Wonpil sniffled, wiping at his own tears. “He’s happy with you, and that’s all I ever really wanted for him. It sucks that it’s not me he loves, but I’m grateful he’s loved by someone just as much as I love him.”

Ji Eun was a blur of long hair and tears as she wrapped her arms around Wonpil for a tight hug, pressing her face against his chest. He was astonished by her actions, yes, but he was more shocked at how he barely hesitated before hugging her back, both of them sobbing in each other’s arms for quite a long time.

“I don’t know where to put all my love for him,” Wonpil mumbled tearily against her hair, which he found strangely comforting. _Girls were much better huggers than boys_ , he noted. “I don’t know if I can care about someone as much as I cared about him for all these years.”

Ji Eun seemed to squeeze him in an even tighter embrace. “You’ll find him, don’t worry.” She spoke earnestly, pulling away to give him a teary smile. Her face was red and kind of blotchy, and he assumed the same could be said for himself too; they were an odd pair, to be honest. _What a sight for sore eyes_ , he thought amusingly to himself. _Two teenagers who were not particularly close crying openly on the street, even I don’t think I’ve seen this before._

“We look so gross right now,” Wonpil stated bluntly with a watery smile.

“God, yeah.” Ji Eun sniffled and wiped her tears away. “I won’t tell him, by the way. Not until you’re ready.”

That day, Wonpil realized that he no longer resented her for existing.

**Author's Note:**

> Anyway, hi! Surprisingly enough, I've decided to open up requests for day6 one-shots, so if you want to request anything, please submit to my [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/amira__syfqh) (yes, the anon option is available). Also, if you want, I have other day6 works on my ao3 here, as well as social media aus on my Twitter account (@wonpilesques).
> 
> As always, thank you for reading!


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